Red Bull scion arrested in deadly hit-and-run

September 3, 2012 8:35 am

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By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE, Police traced the gasoline trail which leaked onto the road until it led them to the house with the Ferrari/XINHUA-FileBANGKOK, Sept 3 – Thai police have arrested the Ferrari-driving grandson of the co-creator of the Red Bull energy drink on suspicion of killing a policeman in a hit-and-run collision on Monday, officials said.

The suspect, 27-year-old Worayuth Yoovidhya, is accused of hitting the police officer, who was on a motorcycle, and dragging the body about 100 metres (330 feet) down a main road at around dawn in the capital Bangkok.

“We traced the gasoline trail which leaked onto the road until it led us to the house with the Ferrari,” said police Lieutenant Colonel Viradol Thubthimdee of Thonglor police station, where Worayuth was taken for questioning.

“He will be charged with causing death by driving and failing to stop and inform the authorities, with a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine,” Viradol said, adding that Worayuth denied the accusation.

His grandfather Chaleo Yoovidhya was one of Thailand’s richest men thanks to the global success of the Red Bull empire that he co-founded with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz in the 1980s. Chaleo died in March aged 89.

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